I spent the better part of April crossing from one side of North America to the other. In four weeks, we hosted ten events in six cities. It was a busy month. But whether I was talking to prospects, incoming students, recruiters, or just the guy next to me on the airplane, one topic seemed to dominate all conversations: the state of the economy.
If you’re living in the U.S., I guess you’d have to be hiding under a rock to have not engaged in one way or another in the current economic situation. You can’t open a paper or tune into any news programme without noticing mention of that dreaded “R” word. And, while the talk I hear in Europe is slightly less severe, there’s no question that an economic slowdown is on everyone’s mind.
Now, I am neither an economist nor a financial expert, but, I do know this: while it was largely Wall Street decisions makers that got us into this mess, the problem has gone global. In February, the Guardian ran an interesting article on the global effects of the U.S. sub-prime crisis. The opening line read, “Finance chiefs from the G7 group of rich countries have warned that the global economy faces a period of slower growth as a result of the US mortgage crisis and projected the levels of the size of the sub-prime losses could be as high as $400bn (£200bn)."[1]
If ever we needed an example of just how truly interconnected and interdependent we all are, this is it.
From cable news pundits to business journals, the belief that economies are increasingly complex, multi-connected, and inter-reliant is something you can hear a lot about now. Even the great Jack Welsh has weighed in.
“The Jack Welch of the future cannot be me. I spent my entire career in the United States. The next head of General Electric will be somebody who spent time in Bombay, in Hong Kong, in Buenos Aires. We have to send our best and brightest overseas and make sure they have the training that will allow them to be the global leaders who will make GE flourish in the future.”[2]
It seems like business schools are starting to take notice. More and more, top U.S. schools are trying to position themselves as global. Some have added classes with an international spin, others have made more of an effort to recruit international participants, some have even launched, or enhanced, MBA concentrations in international business. I have no doubt that their efforts are genuine, but with their primarily U.S. networks, ties to the business community dominated by those in North America, and largely homogeneous classes (in even your most diverse programmes, U.S. nationals will typically make up around 70%), I do wonder if most will struggle to truly add value to the careers and lives of their MBAs in the aspect.
Of course, long before it was fashionable, INSEAD was ahead of the curve. Our first MBA Class (1960) had 52 participants from 14 different countries – unprecedented in its time. Now, we have more than 900 MBA participants per year from over 70 different countries, with no single nationality constituting a majority. No other top business school even comes close.
More than just the class make up, with our completely unique two-campus structure (France and Singapore), Research and Executive Education Centres in Israel and Abu Dhabi, and office in New York, even the physical presence of INSEAD is international and interconnected. And, of course, there’s the global INSEAD network of more than 37,000 alumni in over 150 different countries, across all continents. Perhaps even more telling is the number of countries in which there is a solid and sizable network of MBA alumni, which we define as at least 100 – currently 37, compared to an average of less than 10 for top U.S. b-schools, and an average of less than 5 for top b-schools in Europe.
Every thing about INSEAD is global. You’ll find our International Outlook embedded in every one of classes and programmes; in our research and our recruiting practices; in our conversations with one another and the people we meet. Its simply part of our DNA.
And, okay, I know that sounds like a plug. What can I say? It’s all true!
But, you don’t have to take it from me. A current MBA participant sent me an email recently, which said this:
“Last night, I witnessed the following event: A Hungarian guy living in France called a Kiwi girl having dinner at a restaurant in Singapore, asking if she knew where to find a mutual friend, an Indian guy, to talk about a trip to Hungary. Of course, he was right next to her. Only at INSEAD.”
There might be something slightly concerning about the fact that Manhattan bankers can threaten the financial security of teachers in Norway, but the upside is that prosperity and growth in one country can also serve to boast economies on the other side of the globe. If our problems are global, so are our solutions. And it will be leaders who have not only a sound knowledge in business fundamentals and managerial competence, but who have also developed the knowledge and sensitivity to operate anywhere in the world who will achieve them.
Welcome to INSEAD.
[1] You can find several articles, videos and podcasts with our faculty weighing in on the current situation on INSEAD Kowledge
[2] Cited in Javidan and House (2001) “Cultural Acumen for the Global Manager: Lessons from Project GLOBE.” Organizational Dynamics, Vol 29:289
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